MK Dons 2-0 BWFC

Apart from an array of quality players we face an obvious problem on Saturday - they have a really crap pitch. Maybe not as bad as "the sodden pudding of grassless sandy mud" that was Burton, but pretty damn rough nonetheless. Since December the pitch has deteriorated and now has balding and bobbly areas making it difficult to get the ball down and play - after the Burton fiasco we'll find out what Evatt has done to address that issue.
Their players are a  good mix of youth and experience, but quality runs throughout the team. Familar names include Josh McEachran in CM, and recent acquisition Connor Wickham - quality striker whose career has been blighted by injury but incredibly is still only 28.
Like us they made a lot of January signings but focused on loan deals for youngsters with experience at a higher level:
Troy Parrott from Spurs, Conor Coventry from West Ham, Jamie Cumming from Chelsea - to add to an already strong squad.
But the one that every team dreads is attacking midfielder Scott Twine who has a track record of scoring worldies out of nothing - you may remember his free kick at the Unibol sandwiched between Mo Eisa and Boateng strikes when Baps scabbed a late 95th minute equaliser to make it 3 - 3? (personally I thought Sheehan's FK was better)

Here are some of his scariest bits


We're going to have Santos back, we have also improved since Xmas and we really shouldn't fear anyone, but realistically the pressure is on us to win this one and I'm slightly concerned about the pitch.
Out of sheer optimism I'm going to say we'll win by the odd goal.
1 - 2

COYWM!

I think it may be a step too far and we will lose narrowly, hope i'm wrong and we tonk them though 

I can see Dempsey and Baka starting and Dapo and JDB dropping to the bench for this one.

It will certainly be a tough one, probably the toughest we’ll face this season but I think the players will be really up for it and it wouldn’t surprise me if we pull a win off. I still think some of ours had it on their minds last night which explains the slightly under par performance of many. Losing might not be terminal but winning will definitely be inspirational. I reckon we’ll sneak it so I’m going for Wanderers by the odd goal.

Saw this on the MKD fans forum:

Seeing a lot of chatter about how great Bolton have done to climb the table to put pressure on the top six ...rest easy as since Jan 1st the gap between us and them has only closed by 1 point so....
1) Do we see them as a credible threat to the top six ?
2) Who is most vulnerable to Boltons "charge" ?
4) Do we care ?
Oh yeah and its
3) MK Dons 63 pts so bring it on

We go there and run them off the pitch - that should be the attitude. Cannot play scared or defensive. We have gone to top teams before and looked the better team.  That's my opinion.
The other thing is it's not impossible we face them in the playoffs - so if we are scared now - what's the point exactly?
Ipswich and Wycombe both have away games so a draw would probably do us some good, but I say get in there and thrash 'em
COYWM

We ran them very close for a 3-3 draw when we played them at home early in the season. I know we’re away this time, but we also have a much stronger squad, with lots of goals in us. No reason whatsoever to fear them, or anyone in L1 for that matter. I’ll go for a 2-1 win for the Whites.

If I was MKD I couldn't have wished for a better time to play us than now. Their pitch is rough as a badger's arse and it will be our eighth game of the month so we ain't exactly fresh. And since January when they refreshed their team with loanees from Premiership clubs they're firing on all cylinders.

Proper, proper test this one.

Bricking it for this game.

This is definitely a game too far.
I'd say it was tiredness  or the quality of the opposition, but whatever the reason our passing and ball retention in the opposition half has been poor all day. No final ball and plenty of giving it away.
Maybe that's why we've only had one shot on target and 4 shots altogether.
MKD undoubtedly the better team today.

No complaints - They were better than us today.
We looked better in the second half, but they should have put us away already in the first.  Too many wayward passes and give aways.  Brush that one off and on to the next.

Both goals could (perhaps harshly?) be attributed to goalkeeping errors so wondering if it will re-open the Trafford debate?

wanderlust wrote:Both goals could (perhaps harshly?) be attributed to goalkeeping errors so wondering if it will re-open the Trafford debate?

I’ve said it all along Lusty, that Trafford is another Crellin. He was lucky initially that he was well protected by the defence and basically had little or nothing to do. When he was called upon he never really looked solid to me and Saturday wasn’t a surprise. I still maintain that we need an experienced decisive keeper who can both dominate his area and manage his defence and until we have that I think we’ll struggle.